Bahman Jadhuyih
Bahman Jādhūyah/Jādūyah (also Jādhōē/Jādōē; New Persian: ), or Bahman Jādhawayh ( ) (in Middle Persian: Wahman Ĵādaggōw) was a Sasanian general. He had a reputation for being anti-Arab.[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bahman-jaduya BAHMAN JĀDŪYA, M. Morony, Encyclopaedia Iranica] He led the Sasanians to victory against the Arabs at the Battle of the Bridge. The Arab forces referred to Bahman as Dhul Hājib, ( , "owner of bushy eyebrows"). He is often confused with Mardanshah, another Sasanian general. Biography Nothing is known of his early life, but Bahman Jadhuyih is recorded as an old man by 634. He is first mentioned in 633, as one the spokesmen for the Sasanians and a member of the Parsig faction led by Piruz Khosrow.Pourshariati (2008), p. 195 In 633, the Sasanian monarch ordered an Sasanian commander named Andarzaghar who was in charge of protecting the borders of Khorasan to protect the western frontiers from the Arabs who were plundering Persia. In 633, Andarzaghar, along with Bahman Jadhuyih, made a counter-attack against the army of Khalid ibn al-Walid at Walaja, but were defeated. After the defeat, Bahman fled to Ctesiphon, where he found Yazdegerd sick. However, Bahman was shortly ordered by the latter to make a counter-attack against the Arabs. Bahman, however, disobeyed the child king and sent Jaban to fight the Arabs instead. Jaban, who was sent alone on the western front to confront the Arabs, was defeated at the battle of Ullais.Pourshariati (2008), p. 196 During Abu Ubaid's campaign in the Sawad in 634, Rostam Farrokhzād sent Bahman Jadhuyih and Jalinus against him with a force which included elephants and the Zhayedan.Shadows in the desert: ancient Persia at war By Kaveh Farrokh Rostam is said to have told Bahman that: "if Jalinus returns to the like of his defeat, then cut off his head."Pourshariati (2008), p. 217 Bahman then turned the Muslims back at Babylon west of the Tigris, drove them across the Euphrates, and camped at Qoss al-Natef on the east bank. Abu Ubaid camped across the river, and when he crossed the Euphrates on a floating bridge and attacked the Persians, Bahman Jadhuyih caught the Muslims with their backs to the river and inflicted a serious defeat on them in the Battle of the Bridge in 634. The sight of the elephants in the Sasanian army frightened the Arabs horses, and Abu Ubaid was trampled to death by an elephant, the bridge was broken by an Arab, and around 4,000 Arabs died by drowning and many others were killed by the Sasanian forces. Al-Muthanna managed to flee from the bridge and rally 3,000 Arab survivors, some of them fled back to Medina. Bahman did not pursue the fleeing Arab army.Richard Nelson Frye, The Cambridge History of Iran: The period from the Arab invasion to the Saljuqs, Cambridge University Press, 1975. (p. 9) In 636 during the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah Bahman was killed by Qa’qa ibn Amr in in revenge for the death of Abu Ubaid and the others killed at the Battle of the Bridge. References Sources * * Category:7th-century Iranian people Category:Sasanian generals Category:Muslim conquest of Persia Category:636 deaths Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Military personnel killed in action Category:6th-century births